Cuts Made To This Island Earth For MST3K: The Movie
(by Don)

    
When Best Brains Inc. made Mystery Science Theater 3000: the Movie (MST3K:TM) in 1996, featuring the ’50s Sci-Fi film This Island Earth (TIE), the movie studio forced BBI to make a number of cuts.  Besides cutting one host segment (the meteor shower) out completely and forcing BBI to scrap the original ending and film a new one, numerous cuts were also made to TIE, removing over 25 minutes out of its original 86 minute running time.  So I’ve compared MST3K:TM to TIE and below listed all of the cuts I noticed, as well as my opinion if it was a good or bad cut.

 

Mystery Science Theater 3000: 

the Movie (MST3K:TM)

This Island Earth (uncut, non-MST3K version)

Time in MST3K:TM Where Cut Was Made

(hr : min : sec)

Total Length in time of What’s Missing

(min : sec)

Good or Bad Cut?

Start and End Time in the Original Film of the Cut Section 

(hr : min : sec)

Description of What Was Cut Out of the Original Film

Why?

0:17:05

(3:17)

GOOD

START:   0:10:16

- Cal tests the mysterious XC condenser - it handles 35,000 volts before burning up.  Cal and his assistant call the company that supposedly sent it and they say that they never received the order

- Cal tries to drill one of the condensers with a diamond-bit drill with no success

- Cal and his assistant then receive a call that says nothing was wrong with Cal’s jet

Mostly unnecessary scenes

END:  0:13:33

0:23:41

(0:22)

BAD

START:  0:20:10

- Exeter blasts metal-paper instructions manual before self-destructing the Interocitor

Cool scene that’s just 22 seconds of running time!

END:  0:20:32

0:37:51

(2:39)

BAD

START:  0:33:08

- Exeter opens wall to reveal hidden Interocitor and then shows Cal an image of his lab via the Interocitor

- A call coming in from Metaluna interrupts the meeting

Provides development

END:  0:35:47

0:40:18

(3:52)

BAD

START:  0:38:15

- After Cal, Ruth and Steve enter the elevator, the camera pans across to show the evil Brack watching them suspiciously

- In the lab, cat Neutron is introduced as Cal, Ruth, and Steve hide behind the lead shield and finally come clean with each other.  Ruth and Steve explain that they’ve been acting distant due to an alien  “transformer” device that’s been used to brainwash most of the other scientists and they had to be sure they could trust Cal first

Important character development scenes

END:  0:42:07

0:41:04

(2:42)

BAD

START:  0:42:53

- Exeter gives Cal an equation to use via the Interocitor (and Cal uses a slide-rule!)

- Exeter then uses the neutrino ray to burns a hole in the lead plate shield and warns Cal not to meet clandestinely with colleagues again

Provides development

END:  0:45:35

0:42:05

(0:32)

BAD

START:  0:46:36

- Exeter receives call from Metaluna telling him to leave Earth and return immediately with the human scientists in tow

Explains why they leave

END:  0:47:08

0:43:09

(0:34)

GOOD

START:  0:48:11

- Additional scenes as Cal, Ruth and Steve go off the road, dodging Brack’s neutrino ray

Unnecessary scenes

END:  0:48:45

0:43:50

(0:22)

GOOD

START:  0:49:26

- Cal and Ruth in water as another scientist (is he German?) runs up and is vaporized by Brack

 

Unnecessary scenes

END:  0:49:48

0:44:00

(0:55)

BAD

START:  0:49:58

- See Spaceship take off from hiding place in the hill next to the house, as Cal and Ruth run to the airport

The Effects of the flying saucer shaped Spaceship taking off look great

END:  0:50:53

0:44:23

(0:05)

GOOD

START:  0:51:38

- A short flying scene as Cal and Ruth look back at the just destroyed house

 

Unnecessary

END:  0:51:43

0:44:31

(0:14)

GOOD

START:  0:52:09

- Extra scenes of Cal and Ruth’s plane in the Spaceship’s tractor beam

 

Unnecessary

END:  0:52:23

0:47:27

(1:10)

GOOD

START:  0:55:13

- As the Spaceship passes through some sort of thermal barrier, the interior gets very, very hot.  (NOTE:  This is the missed scene as Mike & the ’Bots leave the SOL theater to see Servo’s Interocitor)

Unnecessary little dramatic scene

END:  0:56:23

0:55:14

(1:19)

BAD

START:  1:01:50

- The Zagones attack the Spaceship with two meteors

- Exeter says that the Zagones’ planet was once a comet

One of the best scenes in the movie

END:  1:03:09

0:56:12

(2:26)

BAD

START:  1:04:44

- See the total surface devastation of Metaluna before Spaceship goes underground to dock

Some of the best scenes in the whole movie

END:  1:07:10

0:57:18

(1:50)

BAD

START:  1:07:36

- Exeter, Cal and Ruth take tube-car to see the Monitor and see more surface devastation during the ride

Good Special Effects scenes

END:  1:09:26

0:58:02

(0:37)

GOOD

START:  1:10:21

- Monitor and Cal continue talking about Metaluna’s relocation to Earth, Monitor says they’ll be the rulers

- Cal says man’s true size is the size of our God

The God line is pretty stupid

END:  1:10:58

0:58:41

(0:18)

BAD

START:  1:11:38

- After the others leave, the Monitor transfers more power to Metaluna’s protective Ionization Shield to repel a stepped-up Zagone attack (but it’s apparently not enough)

Explains that a massive attack is starting that will end up finishing off Metaluna

END:  1:11:56

0:59:58

(0:10)

BAD

START:  1:13:14

- Shot of the dead Monitor, partially buried under rubble

Explains that the Monitor dies

END:  1:13:24

1:02:04

(0:51)

BAD

START:  1:15:45

- Bug Monster climbs onboard Spaceship just before the hatch closes

- Exeter says Metaluna’s protective Ionization layer has completely failed (why it failed is not said, but it’s due to the stepped-up Zagone attack mentioned in a previous cut scene)

Explains how Bug Monster got on Spaceship

END:  1:16:36

1:02:13

(0:49)

BAD

START:  1:16:45

- Exeter gets the Spaceship away from Metaluna, shooting down a meteor aimed at the Spaceship, while a second meteor simply misses

Great Special Effects scene

END:  1:17:34

TOTAL TIME CUT OUT OF ORIGINAL MOVIE (MINUTES: SECOND):

25:03